Glass-drawing furnace.



G. L. CATLIN & D. MORRISON.

GLASS DRAWING FURNACE.-

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1917.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

GEORGE L. Ca-rum DHWD MORR\SON I (like! neg G. L. CATLIN & D. MORRISON.

GLASS DRAWING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1917.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

2 SHEETS-*SHEET 2.

' ima mum I awumntozs GEORGE L.CF\TL1N *Devm MORR\5ON r e r.

GEORGE I. CATLIN AND DAVID MORRISON, 0]! PORT ALLEGANY, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNORS TO B. W. HILTON, OF SMETHPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

GLASS-DRAWING FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 12, 191%.,

Application filed May 19, 1917. Serial No. 169,711.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE L. CATLLN and DAVID MORRISON citizens of the United States, residing at Fort Allegany, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Glass-Drawing Furnaces, of which the following is a specification. reference being had to the accompanying drawlngs.

This invention relates to glass drawing apparatus, and particularly to the pots therefor.

The object of this invention is to providean improved form of double pot adapted to be used in connection with a topstone having a depending flan e.

And a further object is toprovide improved means whereby the pot bottom may be raised and lowered with relation to the topstone and rotated upon its axis.

A further object is to so construct the pot bottom that it will have the least possible area of adherence to the topstone.

A further object is to provide resilient means for urging the pot bottom against the topstone, so as to secure a thoroughly good and close contact between the pot bottom and the topstone.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompany drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a glass drawing furnace constructed in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the furnace;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the pot with the shaft inserted therethrough; and F Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Referring to these figures, 10 designates the furnace which may be of any suitable form, as for instance, square in cross section, the furnace having the usual refractory illll". ing and being constructed in any suitable manner. The furnace has an opening at the top and supported upon the walls of the furnace is the topstone 11 having a depending flange 12. This topstone is annular in form and is preferably formed in one integral piece of clay. The furnace may be heated in an suitable manner and we have shown for t is purpose the furnace as provided with the gas inlet passage 13 and the air inlet passage 13, which together constitute the burner opening through which gas and air are ejected into the interior of the fur nace for heating purposes. There are as many of these burners as may be desired. The bottom of the furnace is formed with 1 an opening 14 for the purpose of draining off old glass.

Goacting with the ring or topstone 11 is a pot bottom 15. This pot bottom is circular in form, inasmuch as the ring 11 is circular and is formed withthe fiat upper and lower surfaces 16 and with the beveled margins 17. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the pot bottom 15 is of such width that the corner 18 formed at the junction of the surfaces 16 and 17 will come in contact with the corner of the flange 12 when the pot bottom is in operative position with relation to the flange so that there will onlv be a very narrow line of contact between thepot bottom and the flange 12 when the pot bottom is raised to its operative position. This is of great importance as where the ring and pot bottom have a relatively extended contact with each other, the ring and pot bottom will stick together and th1s prevents the pot bottom from being lowered away from the ring or topstone in the manner which will be later described. Furthermore, the beveled portion 17 permits an expansion of the ring under heat, without any sticking of the ring, as will be seen later.

The pot bottom 15 is formed with laterally extending lugs l5 having square reduced portions 15, there being a square passageway extending transversely through the pot bottom and through said lugs. Extending through this passage is a square shaft 19 which extends through openings in the side walls of the furnace. Surrounding the square portion of each lug 15 is a trunnion sleeve 20. Each sleeve 20 has a square recess or bore to fit the square portion 15. Each of these sleeves is solid at its end and is formed with a square opening 20 for the passage of the shaft 19. The shaft 19 at one end is provided with any suitable means for rotating the shaft, such as a handle, whereby the shaft may be manually rotated, and at its other end the shaft passes through the passage 20 in the corresponding sleeve 20 and then is screw-threaded for a purpose which will be laterstated.

The trunnion sleeves 20 are cylindrical in form and the side walls of the furnace are formed with vertically extending slots 21 through which the lugs or trunnions 15 extend, these vertical slots permitting the shaft,,the sleeves 20 and'the pot bottom to be raised or lowered.

For the purpose of rotatably supporting the sleeves 20, which, as before stated, form trunnions for the pot bottom, we mount upon the outer walls of the furnace the vertically sliding brackets 22, each of these brackets at its upper end being formed with relatively wide upwardly extending side walls 23, within which is mounted for vertical sliding movement the lowerjournal box section 24 formed to provide a bearing for the trunnion formed, b the sleeve 20. This journal box section 24 is guided by vertically extending guide ribs 25 formed upon the inslde faces of the walls 23, the journal box section 24 being formed with grooves to receive these guide ribs. Coiled compression sprmgs 26 are disposed below the journal box section 24 and urge it upward. Thus the shaft 19, and its trunnion sleeves 20 are yieldably.

supported and ur ed upward. A cap sec- .tion 27 fits over the journal box section 24 and is fastened thereto by cap screws in the usual manner.

For the purpose of raising and lowering the shaft 19 with the journal box sleeves, we attach to each bracket 22 a yoke 28 through which passes a transverse pin 29 engaging an ear 30 on the outer face of the bracket, this yoke 28 having connected to it and extending down from it a rod 31. Each of these rods 31 is screw-threaded adjacent its lower end as at 32 and suitably supported upon the walls of the furnace are the rotatable nuts 33, which have screw-threaded engagement with the rods 31, these nuts having gear teeth upon their peripheries and each of these nuts being engaged by a worm 34, these worms 34 being each mounted upon a shaft 35. Each shaft 35 carries upon it a worm gear wheel 36 and meshing therewith are the wheels 37 in turn mounted upon a transverse shaft 38 supported in suitable bearings upon the furnace wall, this shaft 38 being provided upon its extremity with a wheel 39 constituting a handle whereby the shaft may be rotated to vertically adjust the rods 32 and the pot bottom. It will be obvious that when the shaft 38 is rotated in one direction, the pot bottom will be lowered and when the shaft 38 is rotated inthe o posite direction, the pot bottom will he raised. The shaft 19 extends out through one of the slots 21 and is provided with a handle 40 whereby the shaft 19 may be rotated and the pot bottom rotated.

For the purpose of laterall shifting the shaft 19 so as to laterally shi t the pot bot-' tom andbring it into proper relation to the topstone, we mount upon the screw-threadof a. screw-threaded rod 42. This rod passes through a bracket 43 and engagin the screw-threaded rod on each side 0 this bracket are the nuts 44. It will be obvious that when the nuts are rotated in one or the other direction, this adjusting screw 42 may be shifted and shift the'shaft 19 and the pot bottom. Thus the pot bottom may be shifted in one direction or the other to secure a proper adjustment of the pot bottom relative to the topstone. v

In the practical use of the invention, the pot bottom is raised to the position shown in Fig. 1 and the molten glass is ladled or otherwise fed into the pot defined by the ring or topstone 12 and the pot bottom. The

' drawing of the glass is then carried out in other face of the pot bottom rests upon the face of the annular flange 12: Another'portion of lass is then fed into the pot and during t e next drawing of the glass, what glass remains on the bottom face of the pot bottom is melted off by the heat of the gas so a jets and drips down through the drainage opening 14. It will be noted from Fig. 1 that the inner faces of the relatively long brackets 22 bear against the outer faces of the furnace-walls and act to close theslots 21 and thus prevent the escape of heat when the pot bottom is raised to a the ring 11 or topstone.

It will be seen that because springs are used for urging the pot bottom 15 up against the flange 12, that even though this flange 12 expands under heat, yet a good contact may be secured between the face of the pot bottom and the flange, and furthermore that the beveled face 17 of the ot bottom permits the topstone 11 andthe fl ange 12 to expand while the springs 26 compensate for this expansion by urging the pot bottom upward against the flange 12 of the topstone. Thus it will be seen that there is the least possible area of adherence between'the flange 12 and the pot bottom, which thus prevents the pot bottom and the gether which it otherwise would do and which would be particularly the case if the flange 12 extended down over an upwardly extending flange on the pot bottom.

One of the main advantages of this invention resides in the fact that the worm position against flange 12 from sticking toima es ear operatively connected to the screws 52 or raising and lowering the pot bottom will work very steadily and when the pot bottom is in place against the depending flange of the topstone 11, the pot bottom will stay in lace and not settle down and the worm gear is further necessary because it is desirable that the pot bottom be lowered slowly so that the bottom may begin its turning movement as soon as it starts down so that the glass will run off. If the pot bottom is turned too quickly the glass W111 hang down in long drops which when the bottom is in place would make blisters in the glass when it is being drawn.

While we have illustrated a construction which we believe to be particularly advantageous and effective, yet it will be obvious that the details of this construction may be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. v Having described our invention, what we claim is v 1. In a glass furnace, a' topstone having a depending flange, a vertically movable pot bottom coacting therewith, the flange havlng an inner corner angular in cross section hav-.

ing its lower edge extending in a horizontal plane and the bottom having ahorizontally extending flat central portion and a downwardly beveled marginal portion with which the flange engages and disposed at an angle to the lower edge of the flange.

2. In a glass furnace, a topstone having a depending flange annular in cross section, a pot bottom, means for vertically moving the 'pot bottom toward or away from the flan e,

and springs mounted upon said means or moving the pot bottom and yieldingly urging the pot bottom up against the flange, said pot bottom being ormed upon one surface with a plane central portion having a diameter approximately the same as the diameter of the flange and having a beveled marginal portion the beveled marginal portion of the bottom bein disposed in a plane divergently related to t e plane of the lower edge of the annular flange.

3. In a glass furnace, a topstone having a depending flange angular in cross section, the lower edge of the flange extendiu in a horizontal plane, a vertically movablle pot bottom coacting therewith and having its 1 sleeves through which said shaft passes, the

ably mounted upon the outer faces of the furnace walls, rods extending downward from the brackets and screw-threaded at their lower ends, nuts engaging the screwthreads of the shafts and held from vertical movement, manually operable means for rotating said nuts, bearings mounted within the brackets for operatively supporting said shaft, and springs urging said bearings upward.

5. A furnace of the character described having vertically slotted side walls and an open top, a topstone on the open top of the furnace having a depending annular flange, a shaft passing through the slots of the furnace, a rotata le pot bottom mounted upon said shaft to rotate therewith, trunnion sleeves being mounted for rotation with the shaft, brackets mounted upon the walls of the furnace for vertical movement, bearings for said trunnion sleeves mounted within the brackets and resiliently supported upon the brackets, manually operable means for vertically shifting the brackets, and means whereby the shaft may be rotated to rotate the pot bottom.

6. A glass furnace having vertically slotted side walls and a topstone having an annular depending flange, a shaft passing through said side walls, a pot bottom mounted upon said shaft for rotation therewith, brackets slidably mounted upon the furnace walls and normally covering said slots, each of said brackets at its upper end being pro-. vided with a vertically slidable journal box section and with a cap section, springs urging the journal box sections upward with relation to the brackets, and manually operable means for vertically adjusting the brackets.

7 A glass furnace having vertically slotted side walls and a topstone having an annular depending flange, a shaft passing through said side walls, a pot bottom mounted upon said shaft for rotation therewith, brackets slidably mounted upon the furnace walls and normally covering said slots, each of said brackets at its upper end being provided with a vertically slidable journal box section and with a cap section, springs urging the journal box sections upward with relation to the brackets, manually operable means for vertically adjusting the brackets, and including screw-threaded rods extending downward from the brackets, nuts. mounted upon the furnace wall and having screw-threaded engagement with the rods,

20 ted side walls and a topstone, a, shaft pass-' said nuts being toothed, worm ears engag-' ing said nuts and having gear w eels mounted in connection therewith, and a transversely extending operating shaft having worm wheels thereon engaging with sai last named toothed wheels. 1 8. A glass furnace having a topstone formed with a downwardly extending annular flange, a pot bottom rotatably mounted Within the furnace and coacting with the flange, said pot bottom having laterally extendin lugs, a shaft passing transversely throng the pot bottom and said lugs and rotating with v the pot bottom, trunnion sleeves having apertures through which the shaft passes and fitting over said lugs, and vertically sliding journal boxes operatively mounted on the walls of the furnace and rotatably supporting said trunnion sleeves.

9. A glass furnace having vertically sloting through the slots 0 said side walls and many-sided in cross section, a pot bottom "through whichthe shaft passes and rotating- .therewith and having laterally extending many-sided lugs, trunnion sleeves fitting over the lugs and havin passages for the shaft, one endof the 5181B; being screw threaded, a cap fitting over said end of the shaft and havin a centralperforation, vertically slidable ournal boxes mounted upon the side walls of the furnace coincident with said slots and supporting the trunnion sleeves, a bracket mounted upon one of said journal boxes, an adjusting screw passing throughsaid brackets and having a head disposed within the cap whereby the adj ust-. f

ing screw is swiveledto the cap, and means for holding. the adjusting screw in lon itudinally adjusted bracket.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our slgnatures in the presence, of twowit- VADA E. CATLIN.

position relative to the 

